Israel<\/a> became the latest Fifa member to officially withdraw their support for Infantino\u2019s re-election in a letter sent by the head of the Israel Football Association (IFA), Moshe Zuares.<\/p>\nThe move is not a surprise as the IFA has been a member of Uefa since 1994 and Zuares sits on the European governing body\u2019s executive committee, but it remains another blow to Infantino, who has invested significant political capital in attempting to improve sporting relations with Palestine.<\/p>\n
At Fifa\u2019s congress in April Infantino tried to stage a photo involving the two delegations in Vancouver, but the Palestinian Football Federation president, Jibril Rajoub, refused to stand alongside IFA \u2060vice-president, Basim Sheikh \u2060Suliman. Undeterred by this setback, Infantino wants Israel and Palestine to compete in the first match of a new under-15 tournament in the United States next month, as reported by the Guardian in June.<\/p>\n
In his letter, which has been seen by the Guardian, Zuares says recent events have triggered an \u201cunprecedented crisis of confidence\u201d between the visions of Uefa and Fifa when it comes to global governance, adding that the rift is \u201cprofound, substantive, and principled, and compelling all stakeholders to reconsider the path forward\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a decision he described as being taken unanimously after a meeting of the IFA\u2019s board, Zuares confirmed: \u201cWe have no choice but to retract our previous letter of support, in the sincere hope that fruitful dialogue among all parties will eventually restore a shared, proper vision and direction for world football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli\u2019s intervention echoes the withdrawal of support from other Uefa members including England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, and followed confirmation on Monday night that Lamour had left Fifa, having been deeply critical of Infantino\u2019s Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that means I lose my job, then so be it,\u201d he said prophetically in a statement on 31 July. \u201cI will understand and respect that decision. At least I\u2019ll sleep well tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Uefa executive committee member, the former Wales Women international Laura McAllister, said the decision to sack Lamour \u201csends a deeply troubling message\u201d and casts serious doubt over any efforts by the global governing body to recalibrate after the FFE scandal.<\/p>\n
McAllister, who is one of five Uefa vice-presidents and worked there with Lamour before his move to Fifa in 2024, praised her former colleague for standing up to Infantino\u2019s doomed scheme. \u201cDuring the shabby events of the past weeks, he showed himself to be a courageous advocate for the most important stakeholders in football,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cKevin\u2019s sacking seriously weakens Fifa\u2019s administration, while undermining this unique opportunity to shift the culture at Fifa and to reset the organisation on sporting values, not simply commercial and financial ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifa is not the president, it is the whole football family. As I have said repeatedly, world football needs strong, principled, independent leaders who are prepared to speak up, challenge when necessary, and stand firmly by their values and those of the global game. Instead, the loss of a leader of Kevin\u2019s calibre sends a deeply troubling message to all of us seeking change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, said: \u2018I don\u2019t think Fifa should be ever contemplating selling off a stake in the World Cup.\u2019 Photograph: Mike Egerton\/PA<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, told the BBC that Infantino pressed the \u201cself-destruct button\u201d over his botched plan to bring private investment into the World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is a problem of Fifa\u2019s making,\u201d Masters said. \u201cThis is a self-inflicted wound. The organisation has pressed the self-destruct button, and the consequences of that flow now into the solutions that need to be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think Fifa should be ever contemplating selling off a stake in the World Cup. They\u2019re a not-for-profit organisation. They should really be holding that competition in trust for the future of football.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gianni Infantino\u2019s decision to sack his chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, after the Frenchman\u2019s criticism of the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-588903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}